Sister Madsen loves dogs and is a memeber of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has been called to serve as a missionary in the Illinois Chicago West Mission

Friday, February 19, 2016

First week at MTC

Hello everyone!!

P-day has come sooner than I expected but at the same time it couldn't have come sooner. 16 hour days are HARD. But I have already learned so much. my district is in some sort of pilot program where they are trying a new way of teaching. We are focused on learning things that the investigator needs rather than things we need to do to help the investigator. Which makes sense to me and I really like the perspective we are learning from because I am sure Jesus wasn't sitting around thinking what can I do for people but more what do people need from me? Does that make any sense or am I saying the same thing in two different ways? idk I hope it does because I really like it.. I just hope that we also learn a little bit about the discussions and how to teach people because I really don't know a lot about that! Because we are in a pilot program while everyone else gets an hour of personal time we are in class studying which is SUPER fun. And it also means we start teaching our "investigators" sooner. like the very next day. On Wednesday we got some info about him and planned our lesson and then Thursday morning we taught him. Our investigators name is "Josh" and I know he is fake but I love him!! he just moved to Provo to live with his LDS friend named "Jason" He had a lot of family drama growing up and his dad left him, his mom has had a hard life bc of it and so have his older brothers and they have turned to some not very healthy things as a result. He sees how Jason's family lives and wants to have a future family like that and he is just general curios about what Mormons believe bc now he lives with a bunch of them. So we decided to teach him about God and how he is our Father in Heaven and he loves us. then we went to meet him... He basically told us he believed in God but he didn't think that God loved or really cared about anyone. and it frustrates him when people say "I KNOW that God loves you" bc how can they know it if he doesn't even know it!! SOOOO we basically scraped our entire lesson right then and there. We asked him if he had ever prayed to know and he said yes he prayed to God during a really hard time in his life when he really needed to feel comforted and asked God to help him feel some sort of peace and nothing happened. And he doesn't understand why any loving God/Heavenly Father wouldn't comfort there child in that moment. We tried to show him ways that God's hand may have been in his life but I feel like we were just arguing with him the whole time?? The lesson was basically a disaster and he rejected all of our challenges we asked him to do. But I weirdly was really pumped about the whole thing. Sister Anderson and I both were. I think its because now that we know more about him we know how we can really help him and were excited to help him realize the truth!!! and then we started planning..... and it did NOT go well. we couldn't understand each others ideas and we couldn't really find an answer for Josh, finding out God loves you is something you kind of have to learn on your own?? idk. we have to teach him today at 8 and we still don't really know what we are teaching him yet. I know you probably want to hear more about the actual MTC but I literally haven't been able to stop thinking about Josh! I can't imagine what having multiple real investigators is going to be like because I pray and care about our fake investigator so much!! I'll probably never be able to sleep in the field.. jk I am pretty much always on the verge of falling asleep in class.

Other unrelated things:

Companion: Sister Anderson!! She is so cute, and we are going to the same mission! She is from Idaho but hates the cold which doesn't make sense to me.... I don't want this to sound mean bc she is really sweet but she complains a lot. which is weird bc that is kind of my thing?? But its good bc it helps me to be more positive and bring her up rather than me being the one complaining all the time. She is excited to go to Chicago and has wanted to go on a mission since she was in 8th grade!! She did track in hs which is cool but also not really bc at gym time we are running around like crazy which is not "my thing" but its good for me so I'll do it anyways. It's interesting how well we balance each other out. She knows a TON about scriptures and I kind of know how to talk to people. She hates going to bed and I hate waking up. the list goes on..

Our District: bc we are a pilot program we don't have anyone else in our zone (stake??) so pretty much everyone in our district has some sort of calling, which is kind of weird bc we all have callings so there is no general public?? if that makes sense. But I am told that we are going to be getting two more districts on Wednesday. Anyways I am the relief society teacher so I will be doing that for the two Sundays I am here. also. I am actually only going to be here for two weeks?? idk how it happened. this makes be both panicked and relieved. bc I am ready to be done and I don't really enjoy role playing but panicked bc I don't know anything and idk how I am going to be ready enough in two weeks. also the food here isn't terrible. They had ravioli for lunch today and I almost cried I was so happy.

My physique: Our class and our bedroom are both on the top floor (5th floor? I think?? I try not to think about it..) So my calves are looking GREAT. But we sit in chair for at least 12 hrs of the day so my butt isn't lookin too great.

Things I miss: pants. google. all of you.

also rn there are more sisters in the MTC than elders so like #GURLPOWER

I am trying to think of more things to tell you.. they have hot pockets in the vending machines and BYU ice cream and string cheese. These have all saved me at one point or another.